Asheville School News

App Camp Teaches Teens to Code iPhone Apps, Games

Asheville School wants to help teenagers from across the U.S. and abroad learn how to make apps this summer. The co-ed boarding and day school is offering a distinctive overnight and day camp in July that focuses on teaching kids how to write code, think critically, and make apps using Apple's programming language – Swift.

Led by two experienced app developers, Technology Director Charles Long and Communications Director Bob Williams, Asheville School's Summer App Development Camp will teach young people ages 13 to 18 all about how to code apps.

"It's a great opportunity for any student who's ever dreamed of making their own app to learn the process behind creating an app from scratch," said Williams, who worked with Long to create Asheville School's award-winning iPhone and iPad app. "In 2015, during our inaugural year, we only had room for 15 students. This year, we decided to expand the camp and offer an overnight option, with enough teachers to accommodate up to 40 teenagers each week. We will mix in some fun field trips to local attractions in Asheville for those who choose the overnight option. Teens will learn to make apps like Instagram and games like Super Mario Run. We'll also introduce them to the power of incorporating Apple's new Augmented Reality features into app design."

Week one runs from Sunday, July 8, to Friday, July 13, and week two runs from Sunday, July 15, to Friday, July 20. All meals are provided each day in the School's dining hall for overnight campers, and lunch is provided for day campers. Those who register by June 1 will also receive an app camp T-shirt.

"This camp is one of the few app camps in the country that will truly teach kids the basics of computer programming and expose them to Apple's iOS Development Kit," Long said. "We'd love to one day look back and say we helped the next Steve Jobs, Marissa Mayer, or Bill Gates get started writing code."

Williams and Long attended Apple's World Wide Developers Conference last summer in San Jose, CA and continue to add exciting ideas and projects to app camp. "We continue to learn new techniques from Apple's own developers that we can pass on to our app camp attendees."

Asheville School will provide an individual iMac computer or MacBook Air laptop for each camp attendee to use throughout their week of camp. Students will have the chance to explore the iPhone SDK and see their apps come to life on actual iPad devices.

While some basic programming knowledge is encouraged, Long says even beginners will benefit from attending the camp.

"We're excited to teach more teenagers who are willing to roll up their sleeves and work on a fun app together. The skills we teach are in high demand across the country."